Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: NO! *gets slapped* fine... I don't own SiH; damn..

It was another October day for Takano Masamune. The tall man was walking home from work in the pouring rain, to spend another lonely day in his warm fancy apartment.
Takano was a man of simplicity. He would walk the same way too the subway that leads to his home, where he would spend the rest of the day editing his employee's work.
Some days were of course not the same. Those days that would break the chain of normality, would be when the authors were late with their work, other days the editors couldn't hand over anything else than half-assed work, and somedays would end up sitting in a bar with his good friend Takafumi Yokozawa, drinking beer and amuse each other about the horrible jobs either their employees or authors could come up with… This was not one of those days.

The rain had taken a liking to switch between pathetic drops that could barely soak your hair enough so that shampoo could wash it, or it would switch into pouring strings of rain that could soak you to the bone.
The editor-in-chief had decided at that point that he had had enough with fetching his umbrella and then to hide it away again when the pathetic drops came back. Instead he walked into a bookstore he had never noticed.

What was it that had especially caught his eye on the bookstore? Was it the old design of the store? Brown wood, that looked older than 200 years, the warm and cozy aura it gave off. Whatever it was, it had an effect on him. Turning the doorknob and walking into the store hit him with a heat; both physically but also aurally.

He looked around in the bookstore and took in the inventory. It looked like something that was meant to be in Europe in the early 1800's. The bookshelves were old and brown with swing latters attached to them. His inner child begged him to try them out.

After looking around for a while thinking, 'What will I look for? What kind of book is it today'? his eyes caught a shelf in the back and he made his way towards it, picking up a random book up and started reading, giving it a chance. After two pages he made his mind up and decided to buy it.
He made his way towards the counter, remembering that he had been looking for a specific book for a while now. It was called "The Flowers and Leafs" by Sumi Ryouichi. It had been a decade since he had read it. The man mentally kicked himself for placing the book back on its rightful place in the library, he hadn't been able to find it ever since then. Since this was a bookstore with a rather eclectic collection of books, he decided to ask the owner.

When Takano arrived at the cashier he was met by a young man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. The man was standing at the cashier reading a book that looked new, and his question was answered when he saw the plastic the book had been wrapped in, lying on the counter next to the man.
He was fairly tall for a Japanese man, though if he would stand next to Takano, the young man would look petit. The young man had a light brown mop of hair, that looked like it was straight out of a shampoo-commercial. It defined every rule of gravity with its strong volume.

The employee must have noticed him since he looked up from the book and smiled. Takano wasn't intrigued by the smile, but the eyes. He was met by the most brilliant green he had ever seen. The young man's smile was only an accessory since his eyes said dominated everything.

The only thing Takano could think was '..he's gorgeous', he was then luckily snapped out of his train of thoughts when the young man raised his brows and asked: "Can I help you with anything"?

Shaking it off, he replied, "Yes, do you have, "The Flowers and the Leafs" by Sumi Ryouichi"?

"Oh, no I'm sorry; I haven't had that in stock for a year now"... he answered with an apologetic smile. Takano was about to say thank you in a defeated way, since it was again out of his reach, until - "… but I can order a copy for you that can arrive in two days if you would like that"? – The young man had just made Takano day.

"That would be great if you could do that, thank you very much". He couldn't believe how thoughtful it was of the young man to do that for him, but it's only normal kindness in the customer service world.

"Oh, it's nothing if I can just get you to write your name down on…" - the young man bowed down and picked up a paper pad that was lying on one of the boxes – "… this piece of paper, I'll make sure too put it away for you", he said with another brilliant smile.

The man took the paper and wrote in fancy writing – Takano Masamune. He gave it back to the young man with a nod of appreciation and his trademark smirk. When the young man took the piece of paper, their fingers barely brushed, but the feeling of the small fibers of the other man's fingers was enough to redden his small cheeks. The blush was hastily hidden for Takano since his eyes wandered to the book, the young man had been reading earlier.

"Is there anything else I can help yo…" – the young man's words were deaf to Takano since he had already picked the book up and was reading it.

Takano looked up from the book, "No, but thank you", he answered the young man. The young man just shrugged it off, "Just let me know if you need anything else", and walked over to a shelf that was on his left, behind the counter. The tall man continued reading while taking mere glances of the young man, who was arranging the books. After reading only one and a half page, Masamune had gotten into the book, and tried to small talk with the young owner. He hoped to get more out of the book and the young man if he talked about it.

"You can really compromise with the character, can't you… in this one"? He felt that after those words had left his mouth, he had created an awkward situation, but was relieved when the young man answered him.

"Aha yeah", the answer wasn't really what he had hoped to hear, but since the young man working, he could understand he wasn't completely into the conversation.

"I think it's really good, though it gives off this lonesome feeling", at those words Takano looked up from the book so he could see the young owner.
"Yeah… but I can relate to the guy", the owner answered, though it sounded like the answer was more aimed for himself than it was for Takano. He perked up a bit by the young man's reply and frowned a bit. 'He can? Wow…' The young man was having trouble with reaching a book, and was standing on his toes. Masamune thought he should be a bit more careful.

"You need a hand…"? The young man stood flat on his feet in defeat and looked at Takano, "O...oh it's okay! You are the customer, and it would be terribly rude of me to make you do that", the young man answered, though there was an obvious message in the reply that just said 'Yes please'!

"I insist", the man answered in reply. At that point, the young owner sighed in defeat and walked over to the counter to open it up, so Takano could walk in. With a wave of the hand and a little smile, the young man said "Well... If you insist; be my guest". Takano walked behind the counter and picked down the book for the young man and gave it to him with a little, "here you go". The young man took the book and put it in its rightful place, stood up again, and with a little bow said, "thank you".

"You're welcome", he replied with an appreciative smile of his own. The owner stood straight up and asked: "So, can I help you with anything else"? The editor-in-chief was about to reply, but before he got to it, he was interrupted by the ring of the door and a tall young man. The young man walked over to the young owner with a huge smile on his lips and announced "Sensei!" in a sparkly mode.

"Hello Yukina-kun".
"What's my job today?", Takano for some reason felt annoyed by this young man, who interrupted their conversation. Of course, the kid had, by all means, his right to ask his Sensei what his job was for the day, but it was more the feeling he got from not talking with the young owner. The more he didn't talk with him, the less cozy and warm the bookstore felt. The young owner turned to Takano and said, "If you just could excuse me for just a second, I'll be right back", the young owner said with an apologetic smile. Takano just shrugged it off and kept on reading.

After reading about one page (he had always been a fast reader), the young owner came back. "I am so sorry about that", he said. The older man just smiled and held up the book he found on the shelf. "Oh, it's fine and I would like to buy this one please", where he then laid the book down on the counter. The young owner tapped the price in on one of those old cashiers that looked right out of a Sherlock Holmes book, which rest of the bookstore also did.

"That'll be 3,544*, yen please", the young owner said with a smile. While Takano was getting his money, the young man took his time to put the book in a simple brown paper bag; simple yet classy. Before he had a chance to give the young owner the money, the young owner announced: "Oh yeah, since I'm trying out a new selling thing, you get the book you ordered for free". He smiled, gave the young owner the money and said: "Thank you". The young man just shrugged it off while mumbling "it's just a selling thing". He took the money and was about to tap them in, so he could find the right amount of change for Takano but… "Keep the change, okay"? The young owner looked incredulously up from the cashier and said: "But you gave me 4000 yen**"?

Takano made a fake little-surprised tone in his voice, since he knew that he had given more than the amount of money that was needed, and shrugged it off with an "Is it? You'll do well then", and smiled. The young man looked down at the money in his hands, looked up again, smiled back, and said "thank you", with more appreciation than Takano would have expected. He took the brown paper bag from the owner's hands, "Nice bags, I'd come here just to receive one", and smirked. The young man smiled back, and had the faintest blush on his cheeks and said "Well… when you are coming in tomorrow to fetch your book, you'll get another one", and laughed slightly. Takano chuckled under his breath, turned and said: "Have a nice day".
"Y…yeah, you too and thanks for coming in".

When Takano walked out of the store he felt recharged, like a calm was waving over his being. He thought to himself, 'what a charming person, I can't wait to see him tomorrow '. What he didn't know was that inside the store, the young owner was standing at the cashier, holding the little piece of paper that had, Takano's name on it, and was thinking the exact same thing.

Takano tucked his jacket closer to him, opened his umbrella and while he was holding it above his head, he lit a cigarette. He blew some of the smoke out, then turned and looked at the old fancy sign that wrote the name of one of his new favorite places in the whole world in old English fond,
'Onodera's Honya'.

So what did you guys think? - As always, reviewing is appreciated! Love you all, - cigarettesandlatte:)